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SALVATION

From Obscurity To Prominence

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By Christopher Smith

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Christopher Smith
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4520-9206-5

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Chapter One

    Why I Write

    We are born leaders —
    We are born leaders —
    The things we have been through — was just for you — Jesus — to teach
    us —
    How to survive the storm and in the middle of the sea we know you will
    reach us —
    We are believers — that are born leaders —
    We walk by faith and not by sight — see — this is why we write —

    I write because of the blessings I was given —
    I write because I feel His presence residing in the realm of my living —
    Each decision — is not mine but His to determine —
    His protection is discerning —
    Always adjourning —
    The many evils that I face —
    Therefore for His grace alone I am thankful —
    Could His reason be? —
    The life I have lived or the things I have seen —
    The price I have paid for my mind to be free —
    The countless tears of my mother's agony —
    The game that caused angry thugs to jump me —
    The casualties of my three cousins from one auntie —
    Or His Son's life, sacrificed on Calvary —
    I was spared to be —
    More than the common —
    And as such, my mind is a cannon —
    Firing verbal sparks to a nation still recovering from 9/11 —
    So I am thankful for every situation I am placed in —
    Because the race ends —
    Only when I stop believing in the reason for my breathing —
    So I am thinking this ... could be because of the nights I was hungry —
    Yet I stayed up writing poetry —
    Maybe this could be because of my ancestry —
    Being stolen from a country —
    Being brutalized yet justified biblically —
    So maybe this could be the many voices of stories never heard just
    being reverberated through me —
    So I willingly allow the Spirit to take hold of my soul because each time
    He does, I remember —
    I remember to be thankful for the times the Spirit whispered to my
    subconscious a way out of danger —
    And though the Metaphysical was a stranger at the time —
    All powerful yet benign —
    Patiently waited for me to pick up on His signs of guidance through
    wonder —
    And I remember the times I slumbered yet crime never took me under —
    See, I remember the faithful day in November - when they released the
    cuffs from my wrists and took prints of my fingers —
    I remember sleeping so many nights in the shelter —
    Yet I could not give in because of the love of my mother —
    So whether wrong or right —
    The Light -
    Took me from the clutches of peer pressure and isolated me only to
    make me stronger —
    So I am thankful for His delivery —
    And for whatever reason He delivered me I am grateful —
    So I try to be an example to the younger as He is faithful —
    And again I say I am thankful in this verse —
    Because I have slept in His bosom and fictitiously eaten from trash cans
    and I know it could have been much worse —
    So in all this I confess —
    So that peacefully my soul can rest —
    And I have the compulsive need to profess —
    That each day I breathe the breath of life —
    I'm truly blessed —
    This is why I write —

    Why do you write?


    Wondering

    I slouch back in this chair —
    With my head bent forward, picking at my hair —
    With the fingers God gave me —
    My stare turns to a gaze, wondering why he saved me —
    Saying to myself — in my life I can see His love unfurling clearly —
    But what about the third world — it's just crazy —
    We've got babies dying daily —
    It just amazes me —
    To see —
    So many lives in a state of emergency —
    And billions of dollars filtered into economies for artillery —
    And there seems to be —
    A lack of chivalry —
    From leaders to lives —
    Husbands to wives —
    Where is the unity? —
    This bellows in my mind much louder than the calm —
    Yet the most peaceful part of destruction is in the eye of the storm —
    My cup isn't empty —
    It says plenty —
    To be among the top 10% of the worlds wealthy —
    Which is how I explain poverty? —
    Power is a seed —
    Governed by misguided minds that breed greed — and envy —
    Fuels another power's jealousy —
    Turning innocent to evil —
    Forgetting the reason they are there is to take care of the people —
    And bloody hands clasp hypocritically at the steeple —
    While land mines buried for decades takes lives —
    Like AIDS takes lives —
    Like frustration drives — violence into deprived people —
    Self gratification —
    Hidden within speeches labeled with good intentions —
    They seem to bring out the demons within you —
    I can't see through —
    The smoke screens of bombing nations —
    For their possessions —
    Crippling a society spitefully with the natural man's idea of Godly
    lessons —
    Using fear to grip an abused mind into depression —
    In one hand is curse — in the other a blessing —
    Yet our conscience questions God's decisions —
    And the love He tells us to believe in —
    And although the life of a mother with a crippled child becomes
    crippled herself seems grim -
    God says in all things believe Him —
    Receive Him —
    Seek Him —
    And in heavenly places rewards will be given —


    Tomorrow Is Death

    The Spirit within me says —
    Go forth and create —
    Let your thoughts be made manifest —
    Be made flesh —
    Be made substance —
    Let it not be inchoate —
    But greater than the original thought itself —

    Then I heard tomorrow called —
    And I answered —
    Let the music inside you play itself out into greater numbers —
    More ravishing tunes —
    Tighter lyrics —
    And the embodiment of experience —

    Let it flow like the stream that goes forth and meets the open seas —
    Blends in —
    And becomes one with a greater more self containing flow —

    Then I heard tomorrow called —
    And I answered —

    Let the seed holding the dream of being the first to accomplish that
    which is greater than any family member has ever accomplished —
    Past or present —
    Be planted in fertile soil —
    And watered by diligent hands —
    Knowing that —
    That which you were called to do is blessed already and waiting for you
    to receive —

    Then I heard tomorrow called —
    And I answered —

    What is it you want with me? —

    -The reply-

    I want to meet with you secretly so we can discuss your future —
    I will give you much to do and keep you busy today —
    Together we can discuss why you are alive —
    I must be honest —
    I will be exactly what I am —
    After considering tomorrow —
    I realize she is not my friend —
    Adorned beautifully —
    Claiming to carry peace offerings with her —
    She is strange to me —
    Lips as sweet as a honeycomb —
    And her mouth smoother than oil —
    But her end is bitter as wormwood —
    Sharp as a two edged sword —
    Her feet go down to death —
    And her steps take hold on hell —

    I will no longer ignore tomorrow —
    I will change my number —
    I don't want tomorrow calling me anymore —


    BALM IN
    GILEAD


    Make Change Happen

    I look around a once fertile land complete with springs —
    Natural lakes —
    A beautifully created thing —
    With water streams bringing forth life —
    What I see now are broken down buildings and grave yard plots —
    Real estate being eaten away, crumbling cement blocks —
    Now building for fortune makes existence gritty —
    I look upon the situation with pity —
    As I see the youth growing up hardened by the cement walls of the
    inner city —
    Life's greenery being taken away —
    No nurturing soil of soft surfaces to play —
    Every available square inch of land being converted for construction or
    decay —
    Substance being taken away by treason —
    No amount of money going into the governing hands will please them —
    Whatever happened to fighting for freedom? —
    And taking a stand as free men? —
    In one year, 25% of the support staff for teachers was eliminated out of
    the school system —
    70 of 100 plus pools across the city were shut down due to a lack of
    funding —
    I feel surrounded by pick pockets looking attractive —
    Searching for a day when my soul just relaxes —
    I look at my pay stub and see what is being taken out for taxes —
    And because this applies to every working person, I wonder —
    Where does it all go? —
    Don't get me wrong —
    I understand suburbia —
    But like Rihanna —
    Something has me living in disturbia —
    Until I see the fulfillment of the promise —
    Even though the answer was sent —
    For 21 days Daniel spent —
    His face on the ground in sackcloth and ashes —
    Where do you go to develop your mind in ventures? —
    When each year you hear of the systematic shut down of recreational
    centres —
    And the ones that remain open, you now have to pay for —
    And the signature on the application for the 5 factory job openings is
    what you sign your name for —
    Because you have a family, food is what you slave for —
    What will enable you to change tour? —
    So that you can change more —
    You affect the next generation —
    Who will you pave the way for? —
    Establish a right for? —
    Stand as a light for? —
    In Christ, allow Him to teach you what to fight for —
    And in motion, set it —
    And don't take on the "stinking" thinking of even the closest person
    next to you, hindering your destiny —
    Just go get it —
    Pray and obey —
    Then leave the rest to God, His hands are steady —
    Don't yield up your strength to that hindering thing because life in itself
    is hard already —
    What you will find —
    In time —
    Everything naturally falls in line —
    What positive thing are you building? —
    What future do you see when you look into the eyes of young adults
    down to baby children? —
    There will come a time —
    When we will all stand before the divine —
    A question might be —
    What did you do with your time? —
    (Make it happen)


    WHERE YOU'RE AT

    See I understand where you are at —
    Standing beneath street lights past midnight —
    Hovering above sidewalk vents steaming —
    Believing the meaning for life is appealing to a friend —
    Lining your pockets — with a dream of profit —
    Through triple beam and coke dealing —
    Neglecting your seed —
    The very reason in which God gave you a reason to live —
    And in a moment of honesty —
    Your three year old says "daddy promise me, I'll see you soon" —
    Yeah son, after this bid —
    Five years and no calls —
    Stone walls — up in an eight year old mind roaming the school halls —
    Mommy working two jobs —
    And at night, no babysitter —
    She is trying hard to impress upon your young mind —
    That you are from her blood line —
    And she ain't a quitter —
    But by the second you are getting older — even colder —
    Seems like the very blood your heart is pumping only makes your body
    shiver —
    And it seems like every other month you have a new uncle —
    And you're constantly wondering — "why would my uncle hit her? —
    My mother?" —
    Well, mommy has a hustler's mentality —
    And at times the savage within you see —
    Sweetening a sugar daddy — by appealing to his loins usually —
    Produces a salary —
    She has got to eat but she has got a seed —
    This means another mouth to feed —
    And you take priority —
    A number of years later —
    Now you are a teenager —
    Looking to the streets as savior —
    Mommy trying to control you and not her own behavior —
    Now out — daddy only comes around when he is drunk —
    Trying to degrade her — berate her — blame her —
    For his position —
    All the while telling you "don't worry 'youngon', everything will be
    just fine" —
    Now at fourteen —
    With your own team —
    Fully engulfed on the scenery —
    Handling everything from dime bags to grand larceny —
    Doing everything you can, not to go home —
    But when you are home — you just zone out — sink into your dome —
    And get to thinking about the rules mommy taught you about the hustle
    —
    And the few things daddy taught you on how to manipulate the game to
    strengthen your street muscle —
    And in some ways they are right —
    But in most ways they are wrong —
    And you have got to somehow find the strength within to stand strong —
    Even worse - than the demons fighting this verse —
    Is you are beginning — to realize it's in a curse you're living —
    See, you're fourteen with a seed on the way —
    And you keep remembering when mommy used to say —
    Son, I had you at fifteen and don't want you to turn out that way —
    But now she is about to be — a grandmother at thirty -
    but the cycle, the cycle must be broken —
    And it seems to play itself out in a strange but familiar way and using
    you as the token —
    That's why I'm able to say —
    I understand where you're at —
    Standing beneath street lights past midnight —
    Hovering above sidewalk vents steaming —
    But there is something I want to share — that I read somewhere about
    reason —
    "We had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in
    ourselves, but in God who raises the dead —
    Who delivered us from such great a death and do deliver, in whom we
    trust —
    That He will yet deliver us". —
    Understanding your authority in Christ if you believe Him —
    You are victorious over all things seeing salvation in due season —
    We're here because of treason —
    But only if you believe Him —
    Then His life you will gain if only you receive Him —
    There will be added to it no sorrow — meaning, no fear, doubt, sickness
    or shame —
    When you call on the Lord Jesus Christ's name —
    The enemy is detained —
    Defeated and shamed —
    The cycle is broken and what you have left is eternal life beginning now
    for you to gain —
    Choose life —


    Victory by the Blood

    I stand still knowing that God is at work —
    Within the murk —
    And mire —
    Standing alone, my heart gets lit by the Holy Ghost fire —
    And I can't help but dance —
    Knowing I've got the win —
    I recognize the desire of the strong man on the outside looking in —
    Hoping for a chance —
    For a foothold to try to break down what God is building —
    In the walk of God's children —
    There are spirits established for generations —
    In places I never thought to look —
    As I stand still —
    Read and pray —
    I'm blessed by the revelation of the Holy Spirit —
    In His book —
    Therefore —
    Everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God —
    Must be torn down —
    Stronghold no longer fit the mould —
    They must be pulled down —
    To the ground —
    And stomped out —
    By the authority —
    Invested in me —
    I shout —
    Satan, the BLOOD of JESUS is against you —

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from SALVATION by Christopher Smith Copyright © 2010 by Christopher Smith. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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